Kukla's Korner Hockey

Category: Chicago-Blackhawks

Toward the end of Game 4, Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville moved Kane off the top line with Toews and Dustin Byfuglien and replaced him with Andrew Ladd. Kane moved to the second unit, taking Ladd’s place on a line with David Bolland and Kris Versteeg.

Most indications point to the Hawks starting Game 5 with the same configurations with which they ended Game 4.

“I thought there was more pressure in their zone,” said Blackhawks coach Joel Quenneville. “Whether it’s a difference of them being concerned with a couple of different lines, that might be something we’ll be looking at. I thought it was a little more effective in the third period.”

The Blackhawks are clearly getting tired of hearing about how dominant Pronger has been in the final, but they’re not ducking from acknowledging what he has done.

“He’s one of the best of all-time, I guess you can say,” said Blackhawks center Patrick Sharp.

When this Stanley Cup final began we wondered whether this was the excellent Philadelphia Flyers team many envisioned at the start of the playoffs, or just a good team that had three perfect playoff match ups.

I think we know the answer now. It’s probably a bit of both.

Indeed, the team that has left us wondering has been the Chicago Blackhawks, who have shown little or no resemblance, at least on a consistent basis in this series, to the team that was very good in getting by Nashville, Vancouver and San Jose en route to the final.

In this series, so far, the Blackhawks’ big guns have been remarkably quiet. Jonathan Toews only has a point, Patrick Kane has produced little and was minus-4 in Game 4, and Dustin Byfuglien has been physically quieted for extended periods by big Chris Pronger.

“I don’t think the spectators, if they’ve never played hockey themselves, truly understand the mentality of the hockey players, how they disregard pain and their own doctor’s orders,” said Dr. Antonio Ramos when I met him in his office in the Pilsen neighborhood.

Ramos, now 85 and retired, was a surgeon at the now-defunct Henrotin Hospital, the unofficial Blackhawks trauma center. That led to his hobby, stitching up Blackhawks as one of several team doctors in the old days.

“There was Tony Esposito, the goalie, getting a stick inside his mouth that ripped it up, with incredible trauma, and going back to play,” said Ramos.

When you lure people into doing something in order to prosecute them, it’s called entrapment. Unless you work for NBC 5 in Chicago - then it’s called good TV.

Paula Faris is a sports reporter for WMAQ, the Peacock affiliate in Chi-town.

In advance of the Flyers’ heartstopping 5-3 win in Game 4 of the Stanley Cup Finals on Friday night, Faris decided to find out whether Philadelphia’s fans - on NBCChicago.com, she said they’re “known to be ruthless” - are “rude” or just “passionate.”

Rather than put together a straight or objective piece, Faris went the unfair and unbalanced route and tried to get a rise out of Philadelphians. The other day, with a camera trailing her, Faris walked around the city wearing a red Blackhawks jersey to see how the locals would react. (Even worse, it was a personalized sweater with her name peeling off the back.) Faris periodically stopped random natives to discuss the finer points of Hawks hockey and Chicago - then waited for someone to flip out.

The Flyers have neutered the Jonathan Toews line, holding Toews and Dustin Byfuglien without a goal through four games. Patrick Kane has one, but was a minus-4 in Game 4. Toews admitted after the loss that he doesn’t believe the Hawks could win their first Cup in 49 years if his line can’t light it up.

Quenneville broke up his lines in the third period and got some offense, but obviously that didn’t work. In fact, little has worked, outside of Antti Niemi, Marian Hossa, Duncan Keith and Brent Seabrook.

The Hawks passed on shots in Game 4—Kris Versteeg, especially—and have done too little the few times they fought to get close to the net all series.

Most obviously, the Hawks’ game has had none of the flow that allowed them to dominate in the regular season and playoffs.

FOX 29 reported a notice brewing on Facebook and Twitter today about Flyers fans preparing for a flash mob this afternoon in Center City to attack the Blackhawks’ bus as it leaves for the Wachovia Center.

The group allegedly plans to arrive at the Four Seasons, at Logan Square on the Benjamin Franklin Parkway, to cause havoc. A group of bikers – though it was not clear whether bicyclists or motorcyclers would take part – are to follow Chicago’s bus on its route to South Philadelphia.

The Flyers will not comment on the issue, other than to say that the Blackhawks’ bus will have a full police escort to the arena.

Similarly, the Philadelphia Police have acknowledged the threat but will not comment on specific deterrents, as per department policy. They are prepared to take action.